Business Website Hosting Plan

What is Website Hosting and why is it necessary?

Although your website is accessible via the Internet, its data needs to be stored somewhere physical. The physical technology which stores your data, to showcase it online, is called a server.

Website Hosting is the process whereby a company or an individual leases you server space to store your website. This server is also used to host your email accounts.

If your website isn’t stored, or hosted, somewhere, it won’t be live. If it’s not live, it won’t be accessible to Internet Users.

A Website Hosting fee is a monthly rental fee you pay for the physical technology that enables you to share your website with the world.

What is a domain name?

In short, a domain name is a website address.

A domain name has two parts: the top-level and the second-level. The top-level is the “.co.za” part. The second-level is the website name, for example, “ptycompanyregistration” in ptycompanyregistration.co.za.

It doesn’t matter whether your website or email accounts are written in capital or small letters. Search engines like Google simply read the letters.

There are various top-level options like .com, .edu, .gov, .int, .mil, .net, and .org.

A .co.za domain is generally recognized as a domain name for South African businesses. This may help search engines like Google, connect you to local customers.

How do you get a domain name?

Website domain names are sold by hosting companies. Our Business Website Hosting includes a .co.za domain name. You can freely choose any available website name.

Here is an easy way to figure out if a website name is still available. Type your dream domain name, for example, www.cocos.co.za.

If the screen reads “This site can’t be reached”, it should be available. If anything else pops up, it’s usually already taken. But please verify with one of our consultants if you are not sure.

How do you choose a good website name?

A good website name makes it easier for your existing clients to find you on the internet. Ideally, it also makes it easier for new clients to find you.

Every client is unique, however, most people use Google’s search bar to find what they’re looking for. Most people don’t scroll past Google’s 1st page of Search Results.

Popping up on the first page can be tricky because every business wants to be on Page 1 and various factors affect how high Google ranks your website.

One of these factors is your domain name. In this section, we will share some helpful tips on choosing effective domain names that’ll help you connect to more clients.

Choose a unique company name (if you can)

Choosing a unique company name can be very helpful. An easy way to see whether your company name is unique is by searching for it online. If various websites pop up, particularly in your industry, its best to choose a different company name.

However, if you have an existing business you can’t necessarily change your name. The next section offers helpful tips on ranking higher, even if your company name isn’t unique.

Try to match your domain name with the words your clients would search for.

Most Internet Users will first search for specific services or products in Google’s search bar. If nothing useful pops up, they might add a location.

Currently, Google reads website names and matches them to Google searches. Keep in mind that Google often adjusts how they match search results and search prompts.

This means a domain name like cleaningservicespaarl.co.za could help you connect with clients looking for cleaning services in Paarl.

If a client knows your company by name, they might look for your business by typing in your company name, for example Cocos.

However, there might be various companies called Cocos. Some might have very well-established websites, which means your website will only pop up on Google Result’s page 3.

This means your clients might add the services you offer or your location to find your business faster.

To match with these searches, domain names like cosocleaningservices.co.za or cosospaarl.co.za might be useful.

Keep your website name short (if possible).

If you have a cleaning company called Cocos, a good option would be cocos.co.za.

However, it is important to consider whether people would search for cocos.co.za. This is the ideal approach if you have an established brand and your clients would search for your business online, by name.

If you don’t have an established brand consider adding some other key terms that clients might search for. It’s always possible to have a simpler domain name later. You could also buy multiple domain names. You can direct them all to the same website.

What if my company name is already taken by another website?

It is possible to buy a taken domain name from another company, but it’s usually expensive.

A simpler and more cost-effective solution is looking for descriptive add-ons. When coco.co.za is already taken, try cococleaning.co.za or cococapetown.co.za. Take a look at the question above. It offers some helpful tips for picking a good domain name for your business. Just keep in mind that the other company may have a trademark registered on the term “coco” – if that is the case, rather stay away and find another unique name.

You could also consider alternative top-level domain names like .co.za, .com or .net etc.

If you’d still like to buy a domain name from another company you can scroll down to the bottom to see if there’s any detail on the hosting company or website designer. Alternatively, you can contact the businesses itself to ask if they’d be willing to sell it to you.

Why is Website Hosting a monthly occurrence?

Website Hosting a service that rents you data storage space. You can usually choose to pay Hosting Fees monthly or annually. The possible payment arrangements depend on the hosting company you use.

What happens if you don’t pay Website Hosting fees?

You have to have Website Hosting if you want a live website and associated emails. If you’re not an experienced website developer, the best solution is signing up for a Website Hosting service. Without it, you cannot have a live website that all internet users can access.

If you sign up for Website Hosting and stop paying your hosting fees, your hosting company will likely cut off your website and your emails. This means internet users won’t be able to find or see your website online.

Hosting fees often cover email fees to, which means the emails that are connected to your website domain name won’t be working either.

It is possible to build an HTML website and store your website locally on your computer; however, this website won’t be accessible online to others. Creating your own server, that enables you to share your website online, can be quite technical and it often leads to technical difficulties.

How do you create a Website for your business in SA?

There are various ways to create a website. You can write a website in various coding languages like HTML or Python. You can also use templates services like Squarespace. However, most common established businesses use WordPress-based websites.

Our Professional Business Website service offers you a professionally designed website which is based on WordPress, so you can easily add or remove content, pictures or pages.

WordPress makes it easier for non-web-developers to edit their websites. It uses flexible templates that help you create professional websites that you can edit easily.